Many academics believe that the rate of frequent copyright infringement among students and other users of copyrighted materials in the academic environment is an indication that copyright awareness is still extremely low, especially, nowadays that technology has facilitated photocopying, plagiarism and piracy by others. people materials. This shows that there is little respect for creativity, so copyright protection is considered unnecessary. The high price of foreign and quality books is another important factor. Because they are luxury items, people still like pirated books.
However, it is worrying to note once again that the copyright issue has now become a global concern and copyright law infringement has also gained importance, especially in the academic environment where a group of largest number of users of copyrighted material. For example, in an educational institution where teachers rely on copyrighted materials to teach their students, as students often also refer to copyrighted materials to fulfill their educational requirements, in such an environment, it is acknowledges that lack of knowledge of copyright may result in uncontrollable copyright infringement. activities.
The fact that what belongs to other foreign universities seems to be lacking in most Ghanaian universities when it comes to copyright awareness is a major concern for the copyright industry.
One may even wonder what happens in a university where there are no copyright and access policies in this age where copyright infringement has become more apparent with the rise of advanced technology as it is now possible to copy and use literary works that are likely to be protected by copyright. The situation in most Ghanaian schools reveals that many students, unable to afford the prices of textbooks and materials, now make photocopies of essential textbooks and materials for their education at low cost to the detriment of rights holders. From author.
However, it can only be concluded that the damages caused by copyright infringement affect not only authors, but also publishers and other stakeholders in the publishing industry as a whole.
Considering that schools are some of the major users of copyrighted materials in Ghana, it is correct to conclude that, given the role of copyright in our knowledge-based economy, it is important that any serious research on the subject of intellectual property (IP) you have to consider this crucially important role of copyright in the production and dissemination of knowledge and knowledge-based products.
This is because most Ghanaian schools have library blocks stocked with various copyright protected materials that are available to both students and teachers for the production of term papers, essays, reports, theses or dissertations, articles, magazines and other scholarly student publications. and readers. This suggests that schools must therefore be positioned to effectively uphold their academic and institutional values and uphold their mission of teaching, research and service through effective copyright awareness.
